A celebration of the foundation of Israel at a Puncak hotel, students in Situbondo outraged.

On May 14th 28 members of the Indonesia-Israel Public Affairs Committee (IIPAC) carried out a muted celebration of the 63rd anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence, at a hotel in Puncak, Bogor, West Java.

Benjamin Ketang, the head of IIPAC, said

We sang the Indonesian national anthem, then sang the Israeli anthem, then read a prayer for the people of Israel.

Benjamin Ketang

Afterwards it was down to business, as IIPAC largely consists of businessmen who have dealings with Israel, and panel discussions were held on relevant topics.

Benjamin said the event had been planned for Jakarta, but was moved to Puncak because the situation in the capital was not "conducive", and IIPAC didn't want any trouble. detik

Meanwhile, among the furious flurry of reactions and news stories to the impending and now done event, one such story, from the East Java backwater of Situbondo, where senior high school students at SMU Ibrahimy took much of the day off on Saturday to loudly protest against Israel and any recognition of its existence in and by Indonesia.

Outrage

One student with a megaphone roared

Reject the celebration of Israeli independence, it's an insult to Muslims.

I really don’t understand why they always complaining other people religions ? what kind of a country is this ?? I though we all leaving in the same WORLD and we were spose to be United not agains each other, how can we find a unity in this world. We all free to leave in this world not to condemn each other and make their own rules, are they better than us ???? It says even in Quran or Bibble or any other Holly Books we have to be unity respect each other and do good thing, DID WE ????? it is so simple think, but still we can’t do it, but why CONDEMN others way of believing ???? these ways of selfishness I just can’t take it., WHY..no one can give better guidances to whom who has only one mind ???? their live must be borring just like living in the BOX don’t you think so…come on everyone am I right..?????

Have anyone of you ever heard about “deliberate” provocation?
And…may i ask any of you, have anyone in Israel celebrated Indonesian Independence?
It’s no longer about a narrow religious matter, it’s about HUMANITY, FREEDOM. Have anyone of you heard about that?
Apparently not

his point is that celebrating a colonizer’s independence for an Indonesian is as wrong as we celebrating the formation of Dutch East Indies, or like the Australian Aborigines celebrating Australian creation out of their land. It is against humanity and against Indonesian constitution, which clearly said: “Penjajahan di atas dunia harus di hapuskan”.

Provoking? Yes. Perhaps, it is useful to provoke most Indonesians to think why they should be anti-jews without any Jewish around? Those who are think they are Arabs, would just say that it “insulted muslim” with no clear explanantion why such celebration insulted Indonesian muslims.

@Q: Agree with your point that Israeli occupied Palestinian land. However, please do not base your argument on imaginary tale.